Is exercise good for the brain ?

Palabras claves: ACTIVIDAD FÍSICA/CALIDAD DE VIDA

Title: IS EXERCISE GOOD FOR THE BRAIN ?
Authors:Romain Meeusen1,5, Maaike Goekint1,2, Inge Bos1,3, Hiroshi Hasegawa4, Kristel Knaepen1,5, Vinciane Fontenelle1,6, Bart Roelands1.
Institutions:
1) Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Dept. Human Physiology & Sports Medicine,
2) Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk onderzoek Vlaanderen,
3) Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Mol, Belgium,
4) Hiroshima University, Laboratory of Exercise and Environmental
Physiology, Hiroshima, JAPAN,
5) Research Group ARTS, Vrije Universiteit Brussel,
6) Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Merck Serono research Chair,
Country: Belgium

Fuente: Foro Mundial de Educación Física; II Cumbre Iberoamericana de Educación Física y Deporte Escolar; Simposio de Actividad Física y Calidad de Vida; Taller Internacional de  Deporte Escolar y Alto Rendimiento, 2010.

ABSTRACT
Physical exercise influences the Brain. Neurotransmitters such as dopamine, noradrenaline, and serotonine, increases during exercise. When using the microdialysis technique to monitor the release of neurotransmitters in different brain nuclei during exercise, it is shown that DA, NA and 5-HT release is increased during exercise, and that exercise training produces a decrease in basal neurotransmitter concentrations. Monitoring thermoregulation through registration of brain, abdominal and tail temperature and simultaneously measuring neurotransmitter release from the anterior Hypothalamus can give us insight of possible neurotransmitter-induced effects of thermoregulation during exercise.
Physical exercise can preserve cognitive function in elderly populations, promote functional recovery after CNS traumatic injury, and induce neurogenesis in the adult CNS. Physical activity also increases trophic factor production in select regions of the brain. It is known that exercise increas es brain neurotransmission and that repeated exercise (training) will influence baseline neurotransmitter release. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a crucial effector of experience-dependent plasticity. It is a neurotrophin that acts as a regulator of the survival, growth, and differentiation of neurons.
Physical activity and, in particular, acute exercise and training seem to be key interventions to trigger the processes through which neurotrophins mediate energy metabolism and, in turn, neural plasticity. In search of mechanisms underlying plasticity and brain health, exercise is known to induce a cascade of molecular and cellular processes that support (brain) plasticity. BDNF could play a crucial role in these induced mechanisms. Therefore, since the early nineties, studies started to investigate the effects of physical activity, acute exercise and/or training on levels of BDNF. The first human studies examined the effects of exercise on peripheral BDNF in subjects with a neur odegenerative disease (i.e., multiple sclerosis patients) in order to explore the restorative potential of exercise in this particular disease. A dozen of other studies on the effects of acute exercise and/or training on BDNF in humans have been carried out, of which most concern healthy subjects. The purpose of the current paper is to provide an overview of the studi es we performed on effect of physical activity on neurotransmission, thermoregulation and indicators of neurogenesis such as BDNF.